Bibby booted from son's high school playoff game

Wonder what former Kings point guard Mike Bibby is up to these days, now that his 14-year NBA career is over?

Apparently, he's become a sports dad – you know that guy, the loud, obnoxious one who yells from the sidelines or stands throughout a game, sometimes berating his kid, sometimes berating the officials.

Bibby has been spending some of his newfound free time watching his son Michael, a freshman, play basketball for Phoenix's Shadow Mountain High School, dad's alma mater.

Mike Bibby reportedly got a bit too vocal with the referees during Saturday night's Division II, Section III final against Sunnyslope and was escorted from the Coronado High gym in Scottsdale by a police officer, according to ABC15 in Phoenix. As Bibby walked out with a smile on his face, the crowd erupted – though it's not entirely clear if they were cheering; perhaps some were jeering?

Bibby downplayed the incident.

"I think the ref had a little ego problem before the game started," Bibby explained on Monday's "Doug and Wolf Show" on Arizona Sports 620, according to ArizonaSports.com. "I kind of got on him early in the game and he told the police to watch me, or whatever. I was just sitting there and I told him, "That was a bad angle, No. 23 wasn't in the play, ref," and he just pointed to the police and the police came and got me.

"It was like he wanted to kick me out. I don't know why. I wasn't going to argue with the police, but apparently that's all it took."

Shadow Mountain lost to Sunnyslope 60-42, but both teams advanced to this week's opening round of the Arizona Division II state tournament.

No word if Bibby was alone or accompanied by "Team Dime," the posse he ran with in Sacramento when he played for the Kings.

– Tom Couzens

Piazza's book finally hits shelves

Mike Piazza's long-awaited memoir, "Long Shot," was released Tuesday, one month after he fell short of being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

The book includes denials of steroid use, a reaffirmation of his heterosexuality and details about his infamous feud with Roger Clemens.

Excerpts from the New York Post:

On steroids: "It shouldn't be assumed that every big hitter of the generation used steroids. I didn't."

On being beaned by Clemens in 2000: " … if I hadn't gotten my head down at the last instant, Clemens' two-seamer would have struck me in the eye and possibly killed me."

On his sexual orientation: "If I was gay, I'd be gay all the way."

In a recent interview with the New York Times, Piazza said he was disappointed at the Hall of Fame voting, but not overly so.

"All things considered, I got over 50 percent" of the votes, Piazza said. "I mean, there's what, almost 600 voters? That's a lot. I'm on my homeowners board. I know how hard it is to get six people on the same page, let alone 600."

– Tom Couzens

• Read more articles by Tom Couzens

Order Reprint